Sunday, 02/03/2013

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — No. 41 Louisville (4-4) took down No. 19 North Carolina (3-2) Saturday at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in men’s tennis action, sending the Tar Heels’ to their second loss of the year.

Doubles play produced three closely-contested matches, all of which went to tiebreakers. Louisville took the early advantage when the pairing of Jeffrey Brown and Luis Elizondo narrowly defeated North Carolina’s pairing of Maik Ulrich and Nelson Vick 8-7 (7-4) at the No. 3 seed. The Tar Heels evened up the count minutes later, as William Parker and Brett Clark edged the Louisville’s duo of Van Damrongsri and Sebastian Stiefelmeyer 8-7 (7-5) at No. 2 doubles.

Louisville proceeded to clinch the victory in doubles in dramatic fashion. The Cardinal’s pairing of Alex Gornet and Albert Wagner rallied to beat North Carolina’s #44-ranked pairing of Esben Hess-Olesen and Oystein Steiro at the No. 1 seed 8-7 (8-6).

In singles play, #18 Esben Hess-Olesen claimed the first victory for North Carolina with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Louisville’s #82 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer. At No. 4 singles, #102 William Parker increased the Tar Heels’ advantage by handling Luis Elizondo 6-0, 7-5.

The Cardinals then ran off three straight set singles victories to clinch the win. Albert Wagner took down #58 Nelson Vick at the No. 2 seed 6-2, 6-3. Alex Gornet rallied from a 4-1 first-set deficit to get Louisville a win at the No. 5 seed by defeating Oystein Steiro by a score of 7-6, 6-1.

Van Damrongsri clinched the victory for Louisville at the No. 6 seed. He squeezed out a narrow win over North Carolina’s Taylor Meyer, bringing a halt to the No. 3 singles match between #57 Brett Clark and Chris Simich.

“I think we fought, but again, you just have to give Louisville credit,” said North Carolina head coach Sam Paul, “They played hungry. [They were] swinging and going for it.  We had a lot of opportunities in doubles and just didn’t get it done.  That put us in a tough situation going into singles.

“I think our chemistry is good but now we’ll see how our chemistry is after we took a tough home loss.  We need to keep working.”

The Tar Heels will take to the courts again when they face Navy and James Madison in a double-header next Saturday, Feb. 2.  UNC faces Navy at 11 a.m. and JMU at 6 p.m.

 

#41 Louisville 4, #19 North Carolina 2

Doubles (Team Winning Majority Of Matches Earns One Team Point)
Order of match finish: (3, 2, 1)
1. Alex Gornet/Albert Wagner (LOU) d. #44 Esben Hess-Olesen/Oystein Steiro (UNC), 8-7 (8-6)

2. Brett Clark/William Parker (UNC) d. Van Damrongsri/Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (LOU), 8-7 (7-5)

3. Jeffrey Brown/Luis Elizondo (LOU) d. Maik Ulrich/Nelson Vick (UNC), 8-7 (7-4)

Singles (One Team Point Per Singles Match)
Order of match finish: (1, 4, 2, 5, 6)

1. #18 Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC) d. #82 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (LOU), 6-2, 6-2

2. Albert Wagner (LOU) d. #58 Nelson Vick (UNC), 6-2, 6-3

3. #57 Brett Clark (UNC) vs. Chris Simich (LOU), 6-3, 3-6 (DNF)

4. #102 William Parker (UNC) d. Luis Elizondo (LOU), 6-0, 7-5

5. Alex Gornet (LOU) d. Oystein Steiro (UNC), 7-6, 6-1
6. Van Damrongsri (LOU) d. Taylor Meyer (UNC), 6-4, 7-5
Records: North Carolina (3-2), Louisville (4-4)